Tag Archives: Tarzan

Post navigation

Rossie isn’t very comfortable right now, but what recent graduate really is? I disassembled Rossie’s cage today. She hasn’t been in it for at least two months. I removed the box from the corner she has been hiding in and placed the rocking chair she hides under on the floor with a fresh sleeping pad. Rossie hasn’t been under there yet (but Lady and Tarzan have both investigated). In fact, I’m not certain where she is (she’s hiding behind the trunk to my left). Did I change too much at once for her world? I hope not. She’s been doing so well. Daisy (pictured) is a little confused, too. Ruby was down here a couple hours ago investigating the empty space. Sapphire is checking it out now. I’ve done some of the vacuuming, but need to finish the job. Mr. L processed the stuff in the box that was under the rocking chair, and you can see remnants scattered around the room. What do we have drawer rails for? We don’t remember. He found a handful of N-gauge railroad track and other goodies.

Mr. L came home, so Rossie has emerged from her hiding place and is hiding behind the vacuum cleaner, investigating the area. She looks a little shell-shocked. Daphne just got a little twittish, so Rossie took refuge under the chair. Good. It’s still a defensible position for her.

What do I mean by Daphne being “twittish”? If Rossie or Daisy are out, Daphne will make a run at them in a mock attack. If I ever hear Daisy growling, I know Daphne is nearby. Daphne will do that with Sneaky sometimes, too. Thankfully, Rossie’s confidence has increased to the point where she has a method for handling Daphne’s mock attacks. We’ll see how she handles this next phase in her development. I’m hopeful things remain positive.

Rossie puts herself to bed if I am not there to tuck her in at 8 pm. She likes routine. Sapphire hangs out with Sneaky during the day. Mr. L is doing his best to earn Daisy’s affection, and she spends most of her time upstairs in his room, so he may be having some success. I’m the meanie who makes them do things they don’t like to do, and he’s the nice guy.

Ajax and Lady have been demanding of attention. Tarzan does, too. Delta, at certain times and places wants her fair share. Ruby is around. Daphne is Daphne.

Zelda is usually under the back porch or my truck. She paid a visit to our neighbors earlier in the week. She sometimes disappears for a day, but I don’t think she goes too far, and I think it’s more I don’t see her than she disappears. Walter is usually on the side porch in the morning, and as long as it’s not too late in the day, I can call him up from under the house. I’m not sure where he spends his afternoons and evenings. Everyone seems healthy and happy, and that’s what I care about most.

I’m going to pout just a little bit. I see all kinds of people who have cats adopt them. These cats or cuddly and playful and allow them to handle them. You’ve heard of the Land of Misfit Toys. I seem to have become the Land of Misfit Cats. Except, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with these cats. They just would have preferred not to have been captured by me. They showed up at my feeder, and my policy is if you eat at my feeder regularly, you have to be spayed or neutered and have your shots. All my indoor cats (except Ajax, Tarzan, Lady, and Sneaky) were captured as kittens when they were past the point of easy socialization.

In short, I don’t think they’re Misfit Cats. I think they’re introverted cats who just want to be left to their own devices. Daphne, Sapphire, and Daisy all get along with the other cats just fine. Okay, Daphne can get a little obnoxious with Sneaky every now and then. Delta and Ruby are doing well, but this is coming as they mellow with age.

We don’t know what’s going on with Rossie. I have to wonder if she’s developmentally disabled. We can never tell if we’re going to be able to approach her or if we’re going to get the wild-eyed “you’re going to eat me” look before she runs. She definitely prefers Mr. L to me but even he has trouble approaching her sometimes.

Sneaky adopted us, and that’s what earned her a place in the house. I couldn’t live with myself for keeping a cat that wanted to be with us outside while we had a bevy of cats who weren’t interested in regular interaction in the house. Since she’s come in the house, she’s chosen to isolate herself from the other cats — we have to keep Ajax away from her, and sometimes, we have to separate Tarzan and Daphne from her (other times, they get along fine). This is easy. During the day, Ajax stays in the kitchen and parlor with Rossie. Sneaky chooses to remain in the dining room, but the door is open so the other cats can interact with her if they choose (usually they just eat her food). Sapphire seems to have taken a liking to Sneaky, but Sneaky seems like she ignores Sapphire.

Daisy has recently earned the right to spend time where she pleases in the house. For the first couple days, she was in the parlor when I closed the door to let Rossie out. Now she stays upstairs with Sapphire and the other cats. Unfortunately, Daisy and Sapphire learned well from Zelda, their mama, about staying away from people.

Lady, Tarzan, and Ajax were hand-raised, and they welcome attention. Delta likes her attention on the bed and standing next to our chairs in the evening. Ruby likes her attention only on the bed but not all the time. Sneaky demands her attention when I sit in her chair. Daphne prefers to be stroked when she’s on the floor or sleeping somewhere, but she doesn’t care to be picked up. We can usually approach Rossie when she’s in certain places but not always.

I have good cats, but they aren’t typical pet cats. I suspect most people would not want most of them, because they don’t fit their expectations of what pet cats should be. While I’m disappointed most of my cats prefer to spend time with themselves, I love observing their individual quirks and personality traits.

Lady: Our people-lover kitty. She loves to sit on your lap and be petted. She just spent a long while on my lap as I used the Furminator on her, and she loved the whole experience, happily sitting and purring as I brushed her medium-length coat. Lady is our largest kitty, tipping the scale at 17 pounds. Lady, as most of you know, does not always get along with other kitties. Delta adores Lady but knows to keep her distance most of the time, but we find them sleeping near one another often. In recent months, Lady has become more responsive to voice commands calling her off if we hear warning growls in time. This has been helpful in keeping her relationship with Rossie mostly peaceful.

Tarzan: Tarzan has an irritable bladder, so he takes bi-weekly Adequan shots and quarterly antibiotics to make sure his bladder problems don’t result in an untimely death. Mr. L has worked extensively with Tarzan to get him to enjoy being a lapcat, and he’s mostly reached that point. If people come over, Tarzan hides — if you see a lump on the bed, you can count on it being Tarzan.

Sneaky: Sneaky loves Mr. L and me. Other cats? Not so much. Sneaky sequesters herself in the dining room and downstairs bathroom (where her food, water, and litter box can be found). During the day, the dining room door is open, and Sneaky is free to explore the house. She chooses not to. Ajax stays in the kitchen and parlor during the day to ensure they are kept apart. Other cats come and go and mostly things are peaceful. Sometimes, Tarzan or Daphne will start an altercation. Tarzan and Sneaky had a pretty serious discussion last week, and a few days ago, I found evidence of scabs on Sneaky’s underside, so I believe it was more serious than I initially thought. I’ve been watching them since then, and they seem to be doing okay with each other.

Zelda: Zelda has been a regular at the outdoor feeder for some time now. Last November, I trapped her, she was tested and came through healthy. She’s been spayed and vaccinated. Zelda chooses to be with us and near us, but she will not let us touch her or handle her. This month, I talked to Dr. Val about a flea treatment I could mix with her food. Zelda ate it just fine, and I haven’t noticed her scratching as much. I bought a six-month supply. Revolution covers more parasites, but Dr. Val and I agreed this was the most critical aspect for her ongoing care.

Delta: Delta is more interested in being petted in more places. At five years old, she continues to mellow. She’s now tolerating brief amounts of time on a lap.

Rossie: Rossie has been an enigma. Most of the time, she’s fearful. If we approach her, we usually get the “deer in the headlights” look. She prefers us to ask permission to pet her, and she doesn’t alway grant it. When she does, she soaks up the attention. But each time, it’s as if we’ve never done it before. Given the run of the house, she takes to hidding after a day or two. At night, there are altercations, not always with Lady. Rossie is most relaxed when confined to the parlor and kitchen (she never goes in the kitchen) during the day and when she goes into a large dog cage (with litter box, food, water, space, and carrier cave) at night. We’ve been doing this with brief exceptions for the last two years, and Rossie has gradually become more like a cat. She has started standing up to Lady. She approaches Mr. L (only in arm’s reach) for petting, and she moves about. We tuck her into the cage at 8pm so the door can be opened for the other cats to come in for food, water, and companionship. We wish things could be different for Rossie, but we’ve tried other things, and this is the only approach that seems to result in a relatively mentally healthy kitty, and that’s important.

Ruby: Ruby was the runt of the litter of Pretty Boy Floyd (deceased), Delta, Rossie, and Ruby. I’m firmly convinced if we hadn’t captured them that Ruby would not have survived. In the house, she has thrived. She’s somewhat reclusive, but in recent months, she’s become more amenable to being petted when she is in certain locations.

Walter: Walter is approaching his three year anniversary of his neutering and initial vaccination set. He spent much of last year somewhere else but usually returned around the first of each month for me to apply his Revolution. He’s one of the few cats who doesn’t mind having Revolution applied. Once Nick (due to being hit by a car) and Daisy (due to being brought inside) were no longer outside, Walter returned regularly, and I’m delighted to see him on the side porch morning and evening. During the day he retreats from the heat — usually under the house where it’s cool.

Daphne: Our high flyer, Daphne can usually be found in the highest location accessible. She’s a strong believer in taking the high ground. Daphne is curious, independent, and a bit of a bully if you let her. She also likes to play, and she plays with ferocity. She likes to be petted, but she doesn’t like to be held.

Sapphire: One of Zelda’s kittens, Sapphire has never welcomed human interaction. She does, however, get along with every cat in the house. We tried socializing her for a long time. Finally, we turned her loose in the house. We’ve found ways to capture her when needed to administer Revolution or to travel, but the rest of the time, she is the gray ghost. We have discovered her sleeping on our beds. I’ve even discovered her sleeping near my feet (rarely). She is usually curious about us humans but not curious enough to let us pick her up.

Daisy: Zelda’s last kitten, she has a lot of Zelda’s stand-offishness. Like Sapphire, I’m afraid Daisy isn’t going to socialize with us humans. This week, she’s refused to come out of the cage when I’m near the opening, and she will go into the cage to avoid me approaching her. Not what I’d hoped for, but I’m not surprised, either. Since we’ve returned from our trip in May, I’ve seen no signs of her not using the litter box (for a brief time before, the fireplace was an occasional spot of hers), so we can release her to the rest of the household soon. I suspect she’s going to be much like Sapphire in that we’ll see her, but we won’t be able to interact with her. For now, she’s Rossie’s roommate at night, but she doesn’t need to be there. Like Sapphire, Daisy either gets along with all the other cats or has effective coping mechanisms.

Everyone is healthy and seems happy. Most would not be adoptable in other homes, because they aren’t cuddly kitties. I’m pleased that with Walter and Zelda outside, that population has been stable for a couple of months. It’s mostly those two at the feeder interspersed with the occasional raccoon, opposum, and orange cat.

Thirty days in the slammer wasn’t fun for any of us. People coming and going all day (most of us prefer to be left alone, remember), being ushered from one side of the cage to another for room service, and none of our usual humans to interact with us was …Continue reading →

Like this:

In a development which will surprise no one, Daisy is now an inside cat. Mr. L expressed concerns that Zelda might reject her since she’s been gone so long as well as a couple other concerns. I need to put together another cat carrier. I have a couple damaged carriers, …Continue reading →

Like this:

Other than our sad news about Nick earlier in the week, the cats’ lives have been quiet. At one time this week, we had four cats lounging on the tower at the same time. I think that’s a first. Rossie was in the bottom “bunk.” Lady was in the middle …Continue reading →

Like this:

Tarzan has grown into a companionable cat. He’s not clingy, but he wants to be near either me or Mr. L most of the time. If he’s closed out of a room I’m in, he will move heaven and earth to get into that room — including finding a way …Continue reading →

Share this:

Like this:

The cats’ lives have been mostly quiet lately, but you expect an update anyway, so here goes. Sneaky and Rossie accompanied me on a quick trip to San Antonio for a five minute HVAC installation inspection by the city on Friday. Sneaky was relaxed and enjoyed the trip. She played …Continue reading →

Like this:

I’ve spent the week working in San Antonio. I took three cats with me so Rossie could experience a less stressful week. Lady, Daphne, and Tarzan came with me. One thing Lady and Daphne got to experience was plenty of backyard time. Daphne had only been allowed limited access to …Continue reading →